click clack
by greengirl666
Summary: episode 2. the doctor and Elphie find themselves on a ship orbiting pluto. but what is the clicking noise that seems to be haunting the crew. only one way to find out... reated T for caution.
1. Chapter 1

The young man sat at the console, his feet resting on it gently

The young man sat at the console, his feet resting on it gently. He was in charge of the life support, cameras, everything like that. He looked at the three photos on the top of the console. One was of his family, one of his girlfriend, and one of his university graduate class, with the banner "class of 4017" across the top.

_Click_

He was brought back to reality. He peered at the screen. Nothing seemed unusual or out of place. He relaxed.

_Click_

Again he looked, maybe it was the console? No, no malfunctions.

_Stop scaring yourself, _he thought_, there's nothing there. It's probably just the air ducts heating and cooling._

_Click clack_

"Ok guys, this isn't funny anymore. Now, just get back to you're stations."

Nothing answered but the echo of the corridors of the ship. He turned to face the door.

_Click clack click clack _

He looked up, he thought he saw something, just for an instant but it was gone. His heart was pounding and rivulets of sweat were forming on his brow.

_Click clack click clack click clack click clack…_

His shrieks were heard all through the ship, a warning of the fate to pass.


	2. here pluto

The TARDIS lurched and once again Elphie was grateful for the padding on the metal banister next to the console

The TARDIS lurched and once again Elphie was grateful for the padding on the metal banister next to the console. She had got more bruises from this thing than anything she'd ever done.

"How do you stand this?" she yelled over the whirring.

"Oh you get used to it!" he replied lightly as they came to a halt. The Doctor grabbed his coat and headed to the door, with Elphie close at his heels. He opened the door and they stepped into a small, dark corridor.

"Well, we're inside, but inside what?" the Doctor walked down the corridor, his sonic screwdriver in hand. They had been walking for a while when they came across a door with GALLEY written in faded yellow paint. The Doctor slid open the door and immediately several pairs of eyes were on him and Elphie. There were 4 men and 3 women, all roughly in their 20s. They all looked saddened at something, and slightly suspicious of these people turning up out of nowhere. The Doctor gave one of his quick grins.

"Hello, I'm the Doctor and this is Elphie. We're just passing through and our ship stopped here for some reason. Would you mind telling us where we are?"

One of the men strode forward. He was obviously the captain. He held out his had for the Doctor to shake.

"I'm Doctor Maguire, the captain and this is my crew. We are orbiting the planet Pluto to observe the edge of our galaxy, and to see if there are any resources on the planet that can be sent back to earth. I am afraid you have come at an unfortunate time. We have just lost one of our crew members." The Doctor nodded

"I'm sorry. If it is ok to ask, how did it happen?" one of the women walked over to them.

"That's the problem, we don't know, and what we found of him didn't help us. I'm Stella Landy by the way, chief of medicine."

Elphie spoke up at this point.

"Hang on; you said what we found of him. Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't that mean dismemberment? How could that happen without anyone knowing what it is?"

Stella regarded her with dark blue eyes

"Like I said, we still haven't found all of him, and there was no evidence to tell us what happened. The only thing was that one of the crew heard a clicking noise as they went to the control hub where Gabriel was." The doctor cast a glance over the rest of the crew and looked at Elphie.

"Sounds like we got a monster to find!"


	3. Amy

firstly i would like to apolgise to my readers for the brwak. seems that work, school and writers block arnt a happy group to be with. so here it is! the long awaited( ok maybe not) third chapter.

enjoy!

Whilst the Doctor discussed things with the captain that went way over her head, Elphie had made friends with the ships cook and had managed to get something to eat. During this time she found out that the girl was called Amy Thatcher and was only 19, having got and early university place at 16. Well, it wasn't hard with an IQ above Einstein's, Amy explained modestly.

"So how did you know Gabriel? I don't mean to pry…"

Amy looked down, for a second, she looked lost, but her smile returned quickly.

"We were in the same university class. We dated for a while, but then I met my fiancée, Dougie, but we stayed good friends. I can't believe this has happened…"

Elphie sat there awkwardly as Amy proceeded to get out a tissue and loudly blow her nose. She had never been good at the whole comforting thing-well, no-one had ever done it for her-so she kept quiet. Amy sniffed.

"I'm sorry. I'm not usually like this, but after Gabriel died, I haven't been able to stop."

Elphie shuffled over and placed her arm round the girls' shoulders. This seemed to do the trick.

"Why don't you tell me what happened exactly? I-"

_Click_

"What was that?"

Amy looked up.

"I don know, maybe it was the pipes. They said that they might creak after a couple of years." She trailed off, not believing her own words.

_Click clack_

Elphie looked at the worried girl, the fear setting like ice in the pit of her stomach

"I don't think that's pipes."

* * *

The Doctor was having a whale of a time, quizzing the captain with endless questions, oblivious to the captains growing annoyance. He had found out they were on a 6-engine research ship, series 34R-J8. One of the best ones, he had commented, not many had gone missing. Yet. He had found out the same information as Elphie; however his was in more scientific wording, and in much more detail. Just as the captain was reaching his breaking point, a powerful shriek came echoing through the passages of the ship. The captain paled. They ran off n the direction of the scream, passing Elphie another girl who were coming out of the galley

"Stay there!" he ordered them as he ran.

When they got there, it was one of the worse things the Doctor had seen in a while. He heard footsteps behind him. He whirled round to see Elphie and her friend running down the corridor. He managed to stop them and tried to turn them away, but it was too late. The girl had seen the pendent looped round the headless neck of the body. She sank to her knees as she recognised it as the present she had given him on Valentines Day so long ago.

"Dougie" was all she managed before she slipped into unconsciousness.


	4. promises

Elphie and the doctor had been sitting in the medical ward for at least half an hour. They were waiting for Amy to wake up after the Dougie incident. For the first time in her life, elphie felt sorry for someone. Sorry for the girl who had just lost the person who truly loved her as much as she loved him. Suddenly, Amy jolted upright, screaming. The doctor and elphie rushed over to her to stop her pulling out any of the tubes going into her skin. After a few deep breaths, Amy burst into tears. The doctor placed his arm around her shoulder, and she buried her face into his trench coat.

"hey, its going to be ok. I will find what did this." He drew back

" and I promise you. I will stop whatever is doing this."

Elphie watched the doctor closely as he said this, as it seemed to take effect on Amy. She had to hand it to him, he was good at calming people down, though shell have to see whether he always keeps his promises.

A few hours later, all of the crew-plus elphie and the doctor- were sitting in the kitchen discussing what to do. After what had been happening, some wanted to return home early, abort the mission. However the captain insisted that they should stay. They didn't come all this way for nothing, did they? During this time, the doctor sat pensively in the corner, never saying a word, but nodding every now and again. Half way through the conversation, the doctor leapt to his feet,

"Of course! That's what they want!"

The whole crew swivelled round in astonishment.

"What, what do they want?" Amy asked

"Amy, what do you do when you panic?"

"Erm…. You breathe heavily? Hyperventilate? But what has this-"

"Hyperventilate! You breathe out more carbon dioxide than usual! They prey on carbon dioxide, they scare you so that you expel more and then attack. That's what the clicking is, a scare tactic. Quite clever really…"

"Doctor!" reprimanded Elphie, "this isn't the time to be admiring them!"

the doctor looked sheepish, then very proud of himself

" and I know just how the catch them."


	5. C02

The crew rushed along the corridors of the ship, all running towards the rear end. They were pulling out all pipes that were filled with carbon dioxide, trying the lure the creatures out. Elphie had stuck with Amy; the Doctor had gone with the captain. As they were coming, they suddenly heard the creatures, securing along the pipes, the floor, the ceiling; scurrying towards them. The whole crew was assembled and had tied themselves to the handles around the air lock.

"Ready!" shouted the Doctor.

The crew all nodded in response. Amy grabbed elphie's hand and she grabbed the doctors. As the creatures drew closer, the Doctor counted to 5 and pulled the hatch open. Elphie felt that she was being sucked up a hover and was dangling at a 90 degree angle. Abruptly, the cable holding elphie slipped and she felt it loosen around the handle. She screamed to the doctor, but then realised that over the shrieks and death throes of the creatures, she couldn't hear her. She squeezed his hand to the point of breaking. He looked down and realised to his horror what was happening. But he couldn't shut the door just yet; there were more creatures than they thought and they were still coming. So he helps her as tightly as possibly, and motioned to Amy to do the same. Amy nodded and held Elphie with all her strength. The Doctor saw that there were only 2 creatures left. As soon as they left the ship, the Doctor shut the air lock. Everybody hit the floor at the same time. Laughing in a scared, slightly hysterical manner. The Doctor went over to elphie, who was sitting hunched over. He touched her lightly on the shoulder. She looked up and saw the concern on his face. He really cares, she thought.

"I'm fine" she reassured him, before the captain swept them up in a hug of gratitude.

"We best be getting home", the Doctor said, and they made their way back to the TARDIS. Amy went with them, to say her last goodbye to them.

"What will you do now?" the Doctor asked her

"Oh, well, the need me here, and… and I need to tell Dougies parents what happened. They need to know."

The Doctor nodded and went into the TARDIS. Elphie smiled, and Amy gave her a hug. They nodded, a silent goodbye and elphie got into the TARDIS.

"So where now?" the Doctor asked her

"Well, I am now officially petrified of the future, lets go to the past."

The Doctor laughed at her and flicked the switch.

"Past, here we come!"


End file.
